Most recently, Club Penguin Armies held a tournament, Project Conquest: Blood Bowl, inspired by the original Project Conquest, held by Club Penguin Army Head Quarters. The administrators have made an executive decision that upon the conclusion of every tournament held, there will be a reflection post sharing the admin’s viewpoints on the tournament.
Designed by Mare
Originally, months before Project Conquest: Blood Bowl was even thought of, the Administration wanted to hold a tournament that would bring a new light to the community. Throughout the months, community members have been constantly messaging new ideas for tournaments or expressing that they want to see new tournaments happen within Club Penguin Armies.
As past administrators have done, we felt that the fall season would be one of the best times to try out new innovative ideas. Therefore, we believed that the Halloween season would be the best time to try something new to bring to the community.
While we wanted to host a new creative tournament to bring to the community, many discussions were held amongst the administration throughout August. As time went by, in the first week of September, the thought of Project Conquest held by Club Penguin Army Head Quarters, came immediately to our minds. We loved the idea of this and having a map to allow us to try a map-based tournament. Ultimately, during the discussion about this topic, we were concerned about the September drop and whether it was feasible to hold a tournament like Project Conquest during this period. We feared that it may end up affecting the performance of armies even more.
However, after feeling the idea out with others and assessing the community, we decided to take a risk and try creating a new iteration of Project Conquest. Although we used it as inspiration, we wanted to make this version of the tournament our own. We chose this approach because it was planned for the Halloween season. We felt it would be a great idea to adapt the tournament with new rules and a special twist to shake up the community. Admittedly, the original Project Conquest had its faults and we felt like a new set of rules were needed.
After creating the idea, it was presented to the army board on September 14. The armies on the army board enjoyed the idea and approved of it. Not only was the tournament innovative, but armies also were allowed to customize their own uniforms to be Halloween-themed, allowing them to showcase their creativity, with admin approval. Additionally, we wanted to show respect to the s/m army community and reward them separately for their participation. Therefore, we made sure to state that there would be two winners. Additionally, in these conversations, we stated that s/m armies would be nearer to other s/m armies and majors would be nearer to other majors. Following this discussion, it was then officially voted that the tournament would begin Saturday, October 5 and end Saturday, October 26.
Blood Bowl Begins
Fast forward to October 5, the tournament began and 10 armies took part in scheduling invasions for freeland.
Week One
Within the first week, as expected, armies were going for freeland first. However, later on, it was noticed that once the major armies had collected their freeland, they started immediately venturing towards the left side of the map, where the s/m armies were placed. This was initially the first moment we started receiving complaints over the larger armies targeting the s/m ones causing unfairness in their eyes.
Outside of the map, we noticed other issues that started to occur regarding dual enlistments. Throughout the beginning of the first discussion regarding Project Conquest: Blood Bowl up until the start date, there were about six armies being created whether they were meme armies, colonies, or just regular ones. Due to this, almost the entire community was enlisted elsewhere, starting to create problems due to the previous ruling being:
Dual enlistment is not allowed and individuals may only attend for one army. This means individuals cannot hold ranks in any active armies that have been present on the Top Ten within the past two months. They must stick with one army for the duration of the tournament, even after an army is eliminated.
With this ruling and the fact that the majority of the community had ranks elsewhere, it became too complicated to follow along with who is where. Not only this, but the ruling became too restricting, especially because some army leaders, HCOM and other members held ranks within the new armies. If this ruling continued to be in place, this would mean army leaders themselves wouldn’t even be able to participate which was problematic already. Ultimately, at that point, with most people being dual-enlisted somewhere, most armies had already broken the rule. With that being said, the Admins immediately called a board meeting on October 10 to ensure this ruling would be clarified because we believed that the rule did not account for the present state of the community.
With that being said, due to the majority of leaders in agreement of the rule change to adjust to the most accurate state of the community, the rule was changed to:
Dual-enlisted members must choose one army in which they hold an active rank to represent during the tournament. Members must stick with the one army for the duration of the tournament, even after an army is eliminated.
Self reflection: After the first issue was brought forward to us, there unfortunately wasn’t much we could do within the tournament to help prevent the small-medium armies from getting targeted. However, a few s/m leaders communicated with us requesting that perhaps in the future there could be a separation between maps for s/m and major armies.
Initially, we felt as though the separation of s/m armies on one side and majors on the opposite would delay the time of majors venturing to the left, while s/m armies would be collecting their land and potentially starting to fight against one another. We were also initially hesitant about creating two separate maps during the planning phases due to the current state of the s/m army community as well as the participation that we witnessed in Beach Brawl IV. Our main concern was that if we did create two separate maps that we would run the risk of the s/m map falling stagnant and hurting the s/m community even further.
As for the dual-enlistment ruling, we would like to apologize because the initial one was supposed to eliminate any active armies that were not part of the league from participating for other armies, as this may help their size giving them an advantage. With the new ruling in place, we felt that it allowed those who were part of other armies, like The Weeknds of Club Penguin, to attend for their main armies. Ultimately, it seemed like the fairest solution. Lastly we want to take full accountability that this rule change was still flawed due to the wording not taking into account armies who weren’t at all involved in the tournament and prevent them from attending for another army that they were not enlisted in prior to the tournament.
Week Two
As week two came along, other issues started to arise due to all remaining freeland being captured. It was noted that some armies were invading one another to prevent others from invading their land. Due to this problem occurring, it ended up prolonging and impeding the tournament’s experience, as it was preventing other armies from being able to invade and move on with the tournament. While this was occurring, we received a few complaints of certain armies trying to reschedule and cancel just to invade and either no show or show up continuously without even publicizing their events. After investigating a few situations further, it was discovered that some armies may have been trying to exploit the tournament rules and find loopholes to benefit them/their allies. While strategizing was encouraged, the competitive nature of the loophole caused problems and essentially broke the rules. Yet, we issued warnings to armies about this to allow a competitive tournament to take place.
Self reflection: Throughout week two, as these issues arose, we began reflecting on certain rulings that have impacted the tournament. For instance, rescheduling became a large issue when armies would cancel invasions just to reschedule multiple times. We believe that if rescheduling was limited or outright not allowed, the tournament may have run smoother. Although we had these ideas at the time, we tried our best to reduce the frequency of armies rescheduling or exploiting potential loopholes. This created stagnation on the map, as armies were not progressing forward. Within the second week, this also gave us an idea that perhaps in the future we would need to put in place a stricter rule regarding armies not showing up to their own invasions. However, despite the problems, we also applauded armies for sticking with it and trying to capture other armies’ nations, seeking to win the tournament.
Week Three & Final Week
Entering week three, the same situations occurred as the past week. Due to the week coming closer to an end, we witnessed more armies getting eliminated off the map. Throughout this week, there was also a brawl that was hosted for small-mediums, and then afterwards, major armies. The winners of these battles ended up gaining the ability to choose one power-up card from a list of options to give them select benefits that they could use. Ultimately, both armies used their cards quickly to help with their invasions. This helped resolve situations where armies were stuck, while also allowing an army to cancel another army’s invasion and make it their own invasion, due to previously being unable to schedule in time to invade before another army.
Another situation that occurred was scheduling an invasion before results were released. Due to this never being a set-in-stone rule or a conflict that occurred within this new administration, it was decided that a battle would be allowed to continue.
While the final week was approaching, we took a closer look at the guidelines to refresh ourselves and prepare for the transition to the final week. In the final week, we saw that the only individuals placed on the map were Special Weapons And Tactics, Winged Hussars and three major armies – Army of Club Penguin, Help Force, and Secret Service. While taking a look at the guidelines, we noticed that the current winning criteria did not apply to the current situation. The post states:
If an army is the last one left in the tournament or acquires all the land on the island, the tournament will be over and that army will win. Once an army is knocked out, they cannot continue to participate in the tournament. If there is a tie, leaving 2 armies with an equal amount of land at the end of the tournament, there will be a tiebreaker battle to determine the winner.
Upon the realization of this major issue which would prevent us from crowning a winner by the tournament deadline, we reached out to ACP, HF, and SS and created group chat with one leader from each of the three armies to discuss the issue and present possible solutions so that the tournament could proceed and end with crowning a winner of the major army category. Ultimately, no-one was happy that a rule had not been covered for the ending for the tournament and that is something we all share, understandably. However, we presented ideas and options to the army leaders after much discussion amongst ourselves about the right option. The talks were tense, understandably, as most armies assumed that the army with the most land left would win. However, regardless of this, because it wasn’t stated we felt like the discussion needed to be had. In the end, we provided 4 options. After more than a day of discussions, an agreement was made.
The agreement extended the tournament by 24 hours (to Sunday), allowing both armies to continue scheduling as they had been, while following the established rules. However, due to the delays already affecting the tournament and some unintended loopholes or mistakes, we aimed to provide a fair solution for everyone. By this point, WH had already won the s/m portion of the tournament. To avoid further delays in the final week, we opted to freeze WH’s land, preventing the majors from targeting it. Upon seeing the changes, along with the tournament’s extension and mistakes, HF withdrew, leaving ACP and SS to face off. Both armies ultimately agreed on the selected option and scheduled EU battles three hours apart to ensure fairness and ease the difficulty of finding judges. However, given the lost time during discussions, further extensions due to the loss of a day became unfeasible. Consequently, armies, admins, and head judges convened in a group chat, discussing and agreeing to allow armies to schedule with less than 24 hours’ notice for the following day, thus implementing the agreed plan without further loss of time.
Ultimately, the following day, ACP won the trophy due to the Secret Service dropping out following their invasion and no-showing it.
Self Reflection: We realized that when doing a tournament like this, the tournament requires a comprehensive set of rules which should cover the essential criteria. While we know that it would be impossible to eradicate all loopholes from a tournament’s rulebook, we were disheartened to see that we missed a key component of the rules which should have been placed in the set of rules posted. Unfortunately, there is no excuse for not having a rule for multiple armies remaining on the map considering the current community. It was a huge oversight and we sincerely apologize for this happening. The discussions were tense for everyone involved and we understand that, given the idea that most armies had of the tournament, it seemed unfair to try and “solve” the problem by discussing changing the tournament. However, at the time, the administration felt that, without a specific rule being in place regarding the ending of the tournament, and the disruptions to the competitive nature, a fair agreement had to be made between everyone involved even if it was to continue and introduce the ‘army with the most land wins’ as an official ending. We understand that this should never have happened and take responsibility for allowing a key rule to be missed, leading up to this situation and we sincerely apologize for the trouble caused. We appreciate each army’s cooperation during this tournament, making it engaging and fun despite the rocky road. Our goal was to create a unique Halloween tournament, continuing the tradition set by previous administrations and we believe we were able to create something different even with everything mentioned. Despite the challenges, we sincerely appreciate the armies for participating and seeing it through to the end.
Statement from one of the Club Penguin Armies Admin regarding the journey of Project Conquest: Blood Bowl.
Coolguy, CPA Admin:
Project Conquest: Blood Bowl was a creative adaptation of PC with a brand new set of rules and twists that were set to shock the community. The first couple of weeks were not flawless, but they were entertaining, to say the least. There were things no one expected that took place throughout the tournament, but apart from the last week, most of them participated fully and engaged in a competitive nature. Hopefully, no-one’s experience was ruined during this tournament. Yet, the last weeks made clear that a key component of this tournament was missing and that’s something everyone is extremely saddened about. Unfortunately, no specific rule was stated in the initial tournament post regarding how an army will win should there not be 1 army left or a tie involving 2 armies with an equal amount of land. We can only apologise for the mistakes made. As most will know, throughout the tournament, we tried to make it as fair as possible for everyone involved. Nothing was easy but in life, nothing ever comes easy. Good and bad things can be taken from this tournament but it’s clear to see that there is a lot to be learned. A wise person once said “…We won’t always make the right decisions, sometimes we’ll screw up royally sometimes – understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success”. Ultimately, it’s important that we move from here and continue to work with the community to improve and continue to create an engaging and welcoming environment for everyone.
Final Thoughts
Blood Bowl was certainly not easy to host or participate in, but we are ultimately glad we took the chance and risk in trying something new. However, we would like to apologize for any challenges armies were faced with due to issues on our end. We believe it’s important to establish clear rules and clarifications for tournaments before they are released, and some rulings during this tournament were unintentionally overlooked. Despite this, we believe the tournament was successful in its own way, as it allowed armies to strategize and showcase their competitive nature on the map. This was an exciting opportunity for armies to face opponents they may not have encountered in a traditional bracket format.
As a part of our reflection of the tournament, we would like to invite you to fill out an anonymous form regarding Blood Bowl, including the good and the bad. We will look over each of these forms and take on your feedback to improve, not just as an administration but as an organization. Please click here to fill out the form.
Coolguy
Executive Producer
Mare
Chief Executive Producer